$50 to make my video card silent?

dni · Post by **dni** » Thu May 05, 2005 6:35 am

I've been looking at various x800xl video cards.

The gigabyte one has caught my eye as it only uses a heatsink rather than fans which may be noisy. But, it's significantly more expensive than the build by Ati one, which also has a longer warrantee.

So, does anyone know if the BBA x800xl is really loud? I'm trying to go for a near silent system, but don't want to spend extra for an non-noticable improvement.

For reference I hope to have this inside an Antec P-180.

Thanks very much!

dfrost · Post by **dfrost** » Thu May 05, 2005 8:52 am

Is the passive Gigabyte board $50 more then some active-cooled x800XL boards?

If so, you might consider an Aerocool VM-101 (claimed good up to 70 watts) on a cheaper board instead. And there are several variations on the Zalman-type passive video coolers, all of which are less then $50. The Gigabyte approach gives the advantage of using less space above and below the card, which can be critical in some systems. The switch from any active-cooled video card to passive will be audibly noticeable.

m0002a · Post by **m0002a** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:09 am

All OEM HSF's installed on video cards are noisy, unless there is no fan like the Gigabyte one. You can add a Zalman VF700 with fan running at 5V to noticeably improve jsut about any OEM HSF. The Zalman may not be silent with the case open and your ear pressed to the fan, but it is fairly quiet.

The Zalman fans are not the absolute best available, so some people have replaced the fan on the VF700, but it is a little more work than replacing most other fans. There are threads on how to do this.

dni · Post by **dni** » Fri May 06, 2005 6:38 am

Right now it looks like I'll go for the BBA x800xl and the Zalman mentioned above. Can anyone confirm that these two parts are compatible with one another?

Also, is the installation very difficult? And do I need to change anything on the video card before attaching this? It seems to me the video card fan would still be running even with the Zalman installed?

Thanks very much, your suggestions have helped a lot already!

m0002a · Post by **m0002a** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:06 am

Go to the Zalman website to determine compatibility. You need to consider both your video card and your motherboard. The VF700 will block the adjacent card slot and sometimes can interfere with MB chipset HSF’s on some motherboards.

To install the VF700 (or any aftermarket HSF) you have to remove the old HSF entirely. This is usually done by cutting the plastic pushpins which hold it in place, but exact details may differ by card.

If you have some good CPU mounting paste like Artic Silver Ceramique, that will work a little better than the paste that comes with the Zalman.

For best results with the Zalman, you will want to run the fan off a PSU Molex connector using the Zalman splitter to get 5V (the white connectors).

VF700 comes in two versions, all copper CU and aluminum/copper AlCu. The all copper version is much heavier than the AlCu version. I have the AlCu version which works fine for me.

ilh · Post by **ilh** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:26 am

The weight difference is 90g, 270g vs. 180g. I have the Cu, and it doesn't seem all that heavy. Now my 7000B-Cu is heavy!

gbraun · Post by **gbraun** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:53 am

I have the Aerocool VM-101 on my Radeon x600 and have had no artefacting at serious gaming uses. It's pretty quiet too, being fanless (I say pretty quiet, as I decided to put a front fan in to keep things moving across my HDs and the VM-101, so there's a net gain, but also a peripheral benefit to this approach.

Tzupy · Post by **Tzupy** » Fri May 06, 2005 1:54 pm

I have the VM-101 on 6600GT and am satisfied with it. But the X800XL generates more heat than a 6600GT, almost like a 6800GT. The VM-101's cooling power depends on case airflow, which in turn depends on fan speed (and people on these forums run their fans as low as possible). I've seen a thread in which a 6800GT wasn't properly cooled by a VM-101. So my advice is to get a VF-700.

Green Shoes · Post by **Green Shoes** » Fri May 06, 2005 6:07 pm

Tzupy wrote:I have the VM-101 on 6600GT and am satisfied with it. But the X800XL generates more heat than a 6600GT, almost like a 6800GT. The VM-101's cooling power depends on case airflow, which in turn depends on fan speed (and people on these forums run their fans as low as possible). I've seen a thread in which a 6800GT wasn't properly cooled by a VM-101. So my advice is to get a VF-700.

See the latter part of this thread for a discussion on how much heat the 6600GT generates...it might not be much less than the X800 XL at all.

and dni,

Welcome to SPCR!!!

$50 to make my video card silent?

$50 to make my video card silent?

apples to oranges, but...